Hong Kong is done initiating prosecutions over Lamma ferry disaster, official says, despite calls to continue probe
- The city’s acting housing and transport chief says the Department of Justice has prosecuted all the people it intends to in the maritime tragedy
- But a lawmaker helping the families of victims says there are still stones left unturned in the investigation
But a lawmaker who has been assisting the families of the deceased in the accident has proposed new avenues for police to consider, urging authorities to continue their investigation.
Thirty-nine people died when the passenger ferry Sea Smooth rammed into a HK Electric Company vessel, the Lamma IV, on October 1, 2012.
It was the city’s worst maritime accident since 1971, when a ferry sank during a typhoon, killing 88 people.
In a written reply to a question by James To Kun-sun, the Democratic Party lawmaker helping the families, acting Secretary for Transport and Housing Dr Raymond So Wai-man said the Department of Justice (DoJ) had informed police in mid-October that it would initiate no further prosecutions against individuals or companies in the case.